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Welcome to my blog, a place to explore and learn about the experience of running a psychiatric practice. I post about things that I find useful to know or think about. So, enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Trials R Us

Here's a link to Randomise Me, Ben Goldacre's new site that allows anyone to create his or her very own randomized clinical trial.

There are several things I love about it. The fact that you can easily create your own trial, for one. And that it's a great learning tool, especially for kids.
I love the fact that "randomise" is spelled the British way, with an "s". I love that the tutorial includes a suggestion for studying "the number of wees you have in 24 hours".
Yes, I love Britishisms, and I try to introduce them into my speech as often as possible, in the hope that they'll catch on in the States. But we'd probably just make them sound flat and nasal. Nevertheless, I have started calling things I don't like rubbish, as in, "That place makes a rubbish bagel! You should just tip it into the bin. I'm more keen on Zabars."

Back to Randomise Me. You decide what you want to study, say the number of cockroaches in NYC apartments. No, I don't think so.

Instead, I set up a study of magnesium supplements for initial insomnia. 15 nights on, and 15 nights off, with time to sleep measured by a sleep app called, Sleep Cycle, which measures sleep by movement.

The site walks you through setting it up, asks you whether you want to conduct a trial on yourself or others, randomises you to different arms, and asks if your study will be private or public (defaults to private).

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About Me

Hello. I’m a psychiatrist in private practice in NYC, and I’m writing this blog as a way to help myself keep track of all the things I need to know and do in order to practice psychiatry. And if it helps other people along the way, so much the better.